Berry stemmer having a helical rubber tube



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 P. S. ERVIN' BERRY STEMMER HAVING HELICAL RUBBER TUBEFiled Feb. 7. 1956 FIG.

July 16, 1957 INVENTOR PRESTON S. ERVIN BERRY STEMMER HAVING A HELICALRUBBER ATUBE:

Filed Feb. 7, 1956 P. S. ERVIN July 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet' 2 INVENTORW .V .R E S. .N O T S E R P BERRY STEMMER HAVING A HELICAL RUBBER TUBEPreston S. Ervin, Topeka, Kans. Application February 7, 1956, Serial No.564,000 Claims. (Cl. 1465S) This invention relates to berry stemmers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a berry stemmerwhich is simple and eicient in operation and is constructed so that theberry is carried around a number of times in contact with an exteriorfabric wall, a sharp auger edge and an inner air containing rubber tubewhereby to rub off and to catch the stem of the berry in an improvedmanner.

t is another object of the present invention to provide a berry stemmerof the above type which is adapted to receive and stem berries ofvarious diameters simultaneously.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a berry stemmer bearingthe above objects in mind which is of simple construction, has a minimumnumber of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture and eiiicient in use.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention, referencemay be had to the followingdetailed description taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention shown partly in section (with parts broken away);

Fig. 2 is a top plan viewthereof Alooking along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view thereof, looking along the line3-3 of Fig. 1

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of a portionof the device;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing the rubber tube forming apart of the invention; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing a modified form of spongerubber tube which may beemployed with the invention. .v .v

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, 10 indicates a frame whichis formed at its lower portion with a plate 11 adapted to overlie thetable 12, being secured thereto by an underhanging plate 13 within whichis screw threaded the stud 14 having a knob 15 at its lower end and aclamp foot 16 at its upper end whereby to engage the undersurface of thetable, as will be obvious. The frame 10 extending upwardly in thestandard 17 which terminates at its upper end in the arcuate plate 18 towhich is suitably secured a semicylindrical casing 19 formed along itsopen edges with the vertically spaced lugs 20. A complementarysemicylindrical casing 21 disposed opposite the casing 19 is formed withthe vertically spaced lugs 22, the casings 21 and 19 being yieldablysecured together by means of the nut and bolt assemblies 23 which passthrough the aligned lugs 20, 22 and coil springs 24 mounted thereonintermediate the nuts and the lugs 20. A washer 25 is providedintermediate the nuts and the ends of the springs. l The upper ends ofthe complementary casings 19, 21 are integrally formed with thefrusta-conical enlarged portions 26 and 27 which cooperate to form aunitary hopper.

A separator plate 28 is mounted in the upper end of United States Patent.ICC

the cylindrical chamber thus formed at the bottom of the hopper, theseparator 28 having the openings 29 whereby to limit the size of theberries passing downwardly into the cylindrical chamber. The cylindricalchamber is provided with a fabric lining 30 extending over the interiorsurface thereof the entire length thereof.

A horizontal bushing 31 is provided in frame 10 above the plate 11thereof and rotatably mounts at shaft 32, the ends of the shaft 32extending beyond frame 10 at both ends thereof. A crank arm 33 is keyedto the outer end of the shaft 32 and terminates in the rotatably mountedhandle 34 whereby to impart rotary motion to shaft 32 manually and todrive the bevel gear 35 mounted on the inner end thereof. A bearing 36is formed in the frame 10 above the plate 11 and bevel gear 35 andmounts a vertical bushing 37 within which is rotatably mounted a shaft38, the lower end of which extends below the bearing 36 and mounts abevel gear 39 keyed thereon and in mesh with bevel gear 35. The uppersurface of the bearing 36 is inclined downwardly away from standard 17and mounts thereon a chute 40 having the semicylindrical side wall 41and adapted to move the berries 42 deposited from the cylindricalchamber forwardly into any container or pan on the table 12. The shaft38 extends upwardly the entire length of the cylindrical chamber andterminates at its upper end (Fig. 2) in the cylindrical extension 43which is journalled in the separator plate 28. i

A cylindrical auger forming member 44 is fixed to the shaft 38 withinthe cylindrical chamber, being slightly j spaced from the fabric lining30 thereof.

The auger forming member 44 is provided with three helical grooves 45,46 and 47 of large, intermediate and small size to accommodate berriesof varying sizes.

A rubber tube 48 is mounted within each of the grooves 45, 46 and 47.Each of the rubber tubes 48 includes a relatively thick back portion 49and a relatively thin outer portion 50, the portions 49 and 50 comingtogether in the overhanging anges 51, as shown in Fig. 5..

As shown in Fig. 4, each of the grooves 45, 46 and 47 is integrallyformed with a depending sharp edge 52.

In the operation of the device, the berries are placed in the hopper andat the same time the crank handle 34 of the crank 33 is rotated to causea counter-clockwise rotation ofthe member 44 whichV constitutes a berrycarrier. As the handle 34 is rotated, the berries drop into the upperends of the spiral and helical grooves 45,`

` or rubbed olf. The travel of the berries through these helicalpassageways causes the berries to rotate upon each other and against theline cloth which lines the chamber as well as the rubber tubes 48 and asa consequence the berries will be polished, trash and dirt will beremoved therefrom, the stems will be detached and when discharged, theberries will be ready for use.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 6, there is shown a modified form ofsponge rubber tube or member 55 designed in the same manner as therubber tube adapted to be used instead of the tubes 48 of the previousform.

The rubber tubes 48 are filled with air to effect a cushioning actionand having a one-half twist from end to end with a taper similar to thatof a ychisel at the top of the tube.

The carrier 44 may be formed of any suitable material and may beprovided with any number of such grooves of any varying size. As theupper ends of the grooves become aligned with the openings 29 of theseparator 28, additional berries will pass downwardly. As the varioussizes of berries pass into the passages, they are caught upon the rubberair tubes 48 and held to the outer edges of the auger 52, where theycome into contact with the fabric lining 3i). As the berry enters theauger passage and upon the foam or sponge tube or the rubber air tube itencounters a twisting, turning and rolling motion plus a downward motioncaused by the thin face of the rubber tube and its thick back plus theforward auger edge. The stems are caught between the outer auger edgesides and the fabric that is glued to the inside of the two halves thatsurround the auger. Thus the stems are caught, pulled, and rubbed ofI'as well as polishing the berries, and discharging them ready for use.

It will be readily apparent that the carrier may bev driven by othermeans than that shown, for example an electric motor, without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. Further berries will not beadmitted into the grooves from each opening 29 in the plate 28 until thelatter have made one complete turn, due to the separator 28.

The sizes of the tubes 48 will, of course, vary with the size of thegrooves 45, 46 and 47.

The tubes 43 are suitably mounted within the grooves 44, 46 and 47.

The rubber tubes 48 together with the auger edges 52 and the fabriclining 30 cause the berries to be pushed downward with two turningmotions and three bearing surfaces: the first bearing is the rubbertubes 4S, the second is the auger edges 52 and the third is the fabriclining 3G. rThe stems, including the green, or anchor end or blossom endare taken off the berry in the opening portion of the auger grooveagainst the canvas lining 3d, the stems being caught between the augeredges 52 and the cloth lining 30. Thus, the berries are polished, pushedand turned along by the rubber tubes 48, auger edges 52 and lining 30.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shallbe understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention as defined by the appended claims.

The device can be made of any suitable material, for example metals orplastics such as iron, aluminum, or Bakelite, or can be made of anycombination of hard materials, such as pressed wood, pressed cloth,pressed paper, and any coloring or degree of coloring may be used in allthe hard plastics material used to make machine this device, therefore,may be milled, or poured moulded, and poured moulded under pressure.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of theUnited States. is:

` passageway, a resilient rubber air tube within each of said grooves,and an overhanging edge formed along each of said grooves, each of saidresilient rubber air tubes comprising an elongated hollow rubber tubehaving a relatively thick inner wall and a relatively thin outer wall,said tubes being inilated with air and twisted through one-half a turnover the length of said carrier.

2. A berry stemmer according to claim l, said carrier being providedwith three helical grooves of varying size to accommodate small, largeand intermediate sized berries.

3. A berry stemmer according to claim 2, including a separator platemounted at the bottom of said hopper and discharging onto said carrier,said separator having oppositely disposed openings adapted to permit thepassage therethrough of maximum sized berries, said grooves beingaligned with said openings once through every revolution.

4. A berry stemmer according to claim 3, said body comprisingcomplementary semicylindrical casing members, one o'f said casingmembers being iixedly mounted upon a standard, said one of said casingshaving vertically spaced lugs along the open edges thereof, the other ofsaid casings having complementary vertically spaced lugs aligned withsaid first lugs, nut and bolt means passing through each of said alignedlugs and spring means on each of said nut and bolt means for tensioningsaid casings yieldably together.

5. A berry stemmer according to claim 4, said standard below saidpassageway being formed with a bearing plate, a shaft rotatably mountedwithin said bearing plate and driving said carrier, said shaft at thelower end thereof being provided with a frst bevel gear, said means fordriving said carrier comprising a second shaft journalled in saidstandard at right angles to said first shaft and terminating in a secondbevel gear in mesh with said first bevel gear, and manually operablecrank arm means connected to the other end of said second shaft.

North Aug. 19, 1902 Ervin July l2, 1921

